Staying Grounded [BXB]

Shut Down

SEBASTIAN:

"You're an idiot!" Ashleigh bursts into the snug, catching me in the act of painting Brianna's nails at the coffee table.

I narrowly avoid streaking the baby pink gel across my own fingertips as Brianna's hand is startled free of mine. "Excuse you?" She snipes at the same time that I look up and frown.

At some point in the last twenty-four hours, Ashleigh has turned her hair blue, and it's tied up high on her head to somewhat resemble a water fountain. She's dressed in her school athletics kit, soaked in sweat, her face shiny and her breath coming hard. "An absolute. Dick!"

"Did you run home?" I ask, refusing to bite back.

"Yes."

"I'd've come to pick you up if you'd called."

"That's not what this is about, and you very well know it," she escalates my confusion.

"I do?"

Brianna snorts, plucking the varnish brush from between my fingers and returning it to the bottle. "Just spit it out, Ash."

Collapsing on the sofa beside me, Ashleigh delivers a punch to my arm. "I saw Craig today," she says. "At the park with Alex and their equally adorable brother."

I give her bent knee a shove off the cushion. "Lucky you. So?"

"So, I went over to say hi, and he told me we should all just go fuck ourselves."

"Such a pleasant boy!" Brianna is ignored yet again.

"Now, I know I've done nothing lately that could have possibly pissed him off," Ashleigh continues. "And Judy's incapable of pissing off anyone. That only leaves you, Bas."

"Your powers of deduction are astounding."

"What did you do?"

"Because, of course, he couldn't possibly be held accountable for himself, right?"

It's been four days since Craig stormed out of the shed. My truck is just as he left it — in pieces — and our last conversation still sours my tongue. I've seen nothing of him in that time, and his absence has played on my mind far more than I'm comfortable with.

"What did you do, Sebastian?" She indignantly prompts me with another jab, this one to my thigh.

But I have no intention of talking about it. "What does it matter?"

"Maybe you should just take the hint," Brianna says, feigning an inspection of my paint job. "The boy's clearly not into you."

And Ashleigh finally snaps. "Maybe you should just take the hint. This has nothing to do with you, so keep your mouth shut and your nose out!"

"Oh, like I'm the rude one here, Ash? Like it's not you who barged in on us?"

"I live here, Bree, and I don't need your permission to enter a room."

Sighing, I flick Brianna a cautioning glance, but it's too late. "If you wanted your little bitch attack to stay private," she eagerly rises to the bait, "then you should have held it back until I'd gone."

"If you had any common decency, you'd not stick your oar in where it has no place," Ashleigh retaliates.

"I only called it as I see it. You're wasting your time with Craig. Sorry if that's not what you want to hear."

"Oh, please! You're not even on the right chapter; never mind the same page. So—"

"Enough." My patience cracks. "Time out." I abruptly stand. This is getting far too ridiculous. "Bree, you stay here. I'll not be long. Ash, you come with me."